President Bola Tinubu has inaugurated a high-level committee on the forthcoming national population and housing census on Wednesday.
The committee also has the duration of three weeks to submit an interim report to the presidency.
Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement described the census as crucial for national development, accurate planning, and effective decision-making in healthcare, education, security, and economic planning.
Nigeria’s last census was held nearly two decades ago in 2006, recording a population of 140,431,790, with 71,345,488 males and 69,086,302 females.
Tinubu stressed the pivotal role of a technology-driven process in ensuring credible and verifiable results and the need for collaboration among all relevant agencies and stakeholders.
Underscoring the critical financing factor in the exercise, the President enjoined the members to look at domestic and even international resources.
“Work with all relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning. This ministry has to take charge of this because you cannot budget if you do not know how many we are.
“We expect you will touch on the technology area because the census must be technology-driven. Things have changed since the last time that we conducted this exercise. The enumeration has to be technology-driven with biometrics and digitalisation,” he said.
The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila represented the President at the event held at the State House in Abuja.
Also, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, who chairs the Presidential Committee on Population and Housing Census, assured the President that the committee will deliver its report within the three-week deadline.
The minister recalled Tinubu’s advice to ministers during their retreat in 2003, urging them to think creatively and work with the resources available, even under harsh economic conditions.
He said the committee will recommend practical solutions, including strategies for mobilising domestic and international resources to fund the census.
For his part, the Minister of Information, Muhammed Idris who is also a committee member, emphasised that accurate data was essential for planning across all sectors, identifying credible census as the foundation for such data.
Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Kwarra, who will serve as the committee’s secretary, said the commission has begun preparations for the census in collaboration with the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and other relevant stakeholders.
According to him, the focus was on identifying key requirements and laying the groundwork necessary for the President to make an informed decision on the actual conduct of the exercise.
Kwarra assured Nigerians that the NPC remains committed to ensuring a credible, technology-driven enumeration that will support effective national planning and development.
The eight-member committee also includes the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Director General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the Principal Secretary to the President, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administration and Operations (Office of the Chief of Staff).
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